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Britain's First Satellite Was Destroyed By A U.S. Nuke

March 23, 2016

Written byCuriosity Staff

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In 1959, Britain approached the United States to help get its first satellite into space, following an open offer from NASA. From there, the wheels started spinning on the Ariel 1. The satellite, which was the first international space effort seeing as the U.K. created the satellite and NASA in the U.S. constructed the launching equipment, launched in 1962. The purpose of the satellite was to study the ionosphere and its relationship to the sun. Just weeks after its launch, the satellite was accidentally damaged by the U.S. military's experimental 1.4 megaton nuclear weapon, Starfish-Prime.